Stargate Hastings
Chapter Twelve: The genesis of rebellion
Abydos
It had been three weeks since his team had arrived on Abydos and Donald McCain was handling the responsibility of command well. When not at work down the mines, he would teach his comrades the language that the people of Abydos spoke. Tom and Rachael were almost fluent by now, with Nasseef teaching him at a far faster pace, than the others were learning from himself. Tom was teaching his mother also and was doing a better job of it. Jim and Robert had been on a crash diet, with both of them looking more like locals by the day. It was not that the locals looked starved on this world, they had enough to eat. It was just that all of the energy they expelled in the mines, meant that body fat was not an option. They would soon be working in the mines with him and would be able to start gathering enough Naquadah, to send a shipment back to earth.
Once that shipment was sent, they would gather more for their return home. Then they would draw Ra here and assess his military power. They already knew about the gods technological advantage over humanity and that facing them in a straight fight would be suicide but that was not their intention. Their strategy for facing these gods, would be far more cautious than that. The Stargate on earth would be used for reconnaissance, with a second planet being the only one that the earth gate would connect to.
That was if they could find what they were looking for. Rachael had spoken extensively with Hassif but he had known nothing about the scarab beetle she was searching for. He did tell her, that when the other four men, who were holders of their peoples secret came, they may know something, about what they are looking for. He had explained, that each of the five knew the truth of their past but not the whole truth. Each were keepers of part of the secret, with each person passing on that knowledge to their sons and daughters or trusted family members. Hassif's uncle had taken in him when his parents were murdered and had chosen him to be the keeper, of his piece of the secret history of their people.
Along with some strange words, the caves they were now in, were the part that Hassif was the custodian of but he was only the keeper of the caves, not all of the caves hidden secrets. He knew nothing of what the others knew, except for the story of the rebellion on earth. All of the five knew this but the rest was split between the five. So if one was to be discovered, it would mean nothing, without the other four men's knowledge.
On the day the men arrived at the caves, Hassif guided them through blindfolded. He had told them that it was forbidden, for any of the others to know the complicated route through the caves and that only Hassif and those that he passed the secret down to, knew. Once they had arrived at their destination and the blindfolds were removed. The men had been very fearful of the strangers, whispering to each other. It took Hassif telling them that they were being disrespectful, to get them to take a seat in the circle, that had been prepared for them.
The one of the four men, that was named Na'shik. Started speaking in a language that was not the same, as the one they had been learning since their arrival. Robert, Tom and Jim all looked to Donald but he could not help them. Rachael however, answered the man in the same strange language. Donald asked her "You can understand him?".
Rachael had a big grin on her face, as she answered him. "He asked us if we were the seekers of the Scarab and who was the one that sent us? I told him that we were sent by the lion, to find the head of the scarab".
Jim asked "and what does that mean exactly?".
"It means, that these people are descended, from those who began the rebellion". She then started speaking in more of the strange language but the men did not understand her.
Hassif, seeing her confusion said "We not understand words meaning, only how to speak them".
"Of course, they each know a piece of the larger picture but without knowing what it actually meant". Rachael thought out loud. She then asked Hassif, "Do you know anymore of these words?".
Hassif was smiling. "Yes, yes we have words, words that can only be spoken, after the greeting is given and the correct word was spoken".
Rachael repeated the word that meant "Lion" in English and all of the men began getting exited. Her family had a lion on its Crest and the language she was speaking to them, was the language that the trusted builders of the gods had invented. In order to keep the slowly growing rebellion a secret, from those who worshipped Ra and his kind. A lot had been lost in five thousand years and that had been why her ancestor, had broken the usual method of passing on the knowledge and decided that one family would have a better chance of being successful, in finding the device. Each of the different cells of rebels, were each identified by a different animal.
The rebels on earth were identified by the Lion and the Scarab was the sign of the builders that were on Abydos. There were other animals that signified other worlds but it was the Scarab, that possessed the knowledge of where the other cells were and also, how to get to those worlds. She asked Hassif which of the animals, signified his part of the secret and when he did not understand her. She picked up the map of the tunnels they had explored so far. She was looking for the animals that were marked, to signify the caves and showed it to them. She pointed at the elephant drawing and spoke the name of the animal, in the ancient tongue.
The man who Hassif had introduced as Ma'tuff, who Donald knew was a good friend of Hassif and the man he had named his son for. Started saying that his part of the secret was that word, she then showed them the other three animals they had found. Hassif was the Bear, Fa'ruuk who was also the chief of Nagada and the man who's daughter was married to Nebu, was the word that signified the Eagle and the one named Skaara, was the word that represented the Fish. She took a guess and pointed to the one called Na'shik and spoke the word for Scarab beetle. She was not surprised to see him acknowledge that, that was him.
They had done the same with the passing of the secret, as they had building the rebellion. Only the people who had passed down the secret, had no idea what they were remembering. It was a genius way to ensure that they knew nothing, that could harm the greater cause if caught and with the secret passed through families, the entire family would have to die for it to be lost. The men Hassif included, all began whispering to each other.
Each man in turn, then started reciting the words given to him, with Rachael writing them down in English. As she was writing it down she could see that each one had a part of a sentence and then would be followed by another sentence, that did not match the one before it and another one after that. When completed she checked the map again, to see if the order of the animals in the caves, would give her a clue. When she did this, she noticed that there was a pattern to the caves. She started drawing in the mirror image of the caves onto the map and found the scarab beetle and more importantly the head of the Scarab. The cave system, was the Scarab beetle and they were in the cave that represented its head.
The men started whispering to each other again and when they had finished they each got up in turn and pressed a different stone picture. On the two sides of the slab that the Stargate coordinates were carved into. Before Hassif pressed the final one, he said "We were only to do this, when the word was spoken" He then pressed the final stone. Unlike in the mansion where there were sounds of chains. Here there was almost no sound at all, as the section of the wall that depicted the rebellion, started rising upwards to reveal what looked like a doorway. The five men who had pressed the stones, were more surprised than the humans from earth.
Donald went towards the door but Rachael stopped him, "Until we know what the words they just recited mean, it would be best not to go in there". She warned.
Donald put his hands up and said "Your the boss, as far as all of this is concerned". Then backed away from the opening.
Just then the men started to leave. Rachael asked "Wait, were are you going?".
The men started whispering again, then when they were finished Hassif said "To prepare our people!".
"Prepare them for what?". Rachael asked him.
"To prepare them for the end". Hassif replied.
"The end of what?" Donald asked.
"The end of the gods, my son. I knew you were from the first world but I only dreamed you were the one, that we have been waiting for". Hassif then pointed to the doorway and said, "My uncle tell me, that when the day comes, the power of the false gods will be revealed and the lion would rise to defeat them".
It was Jim who spoke next "Please tell them, that if they do that, they will get their people killed and that we need them to continue as they have been doing, until we know more". They had been conversing in the language Donald had been teaching them but Jim and Robert, were not as fluent as Rachael or Tom, in the local tongue.
Hassif told the others and then spoke for the men "The prophecy says, that when the power of the gods is revealed, the end of the gods will follow. We must prepare for this".
It was Donald who answered him, also in English "Yes father but you must wait until we know more, we do not know what the power of the gods means yet. Please tell them to wait?"
Hassif spoke again to the other men and then when he was finished, he said "We will wait Donul my son but you must understand. We have kept this secret for many generations, if you would have spoken the wrong words. We would have told you nothing and asked you to leave this world. If you were not my daughters husband. We would have even told Ra or killed you".
"Then why did you help me and why did you not speak those words to me before father?". Donald asked him.
"I did my son, after you joined with my daughter. You did not say the words but because you was my son, I was not forced to turn you over to Ra and I help you, because I know you not from this place".
"How did you know, though father?". He had looked pretty much the same as the people on this world and had made his robes look close to the ones worn by the locals. He could not speak the language, at that time but he hadn't spoken a word to him, until after he had already hidden him away beneath his home.
They had been speaking in Abydonian again, so the other men stood there had been listening to their conversation and they started laughing. "What's so funny?". Donald asked them.
Hassif replied, "None of my people would be so foolish my son, the desert is the bringer of death". The men all started laughing even harder than before. Then he said "Even a boy Nasseef's age knows this, you were either a fool or not from this world. If you were a fool I help you, if you came through the Chappa'ai". The gratitude that Hassif felt towards Donald, was clear for all to see, as he continued, "My Meera would be safe".
A thought came to his mind then "Why when you knew I was from the first world, why not tell me all this then?" He heard Rachael laugh but she didn't say any thing.
The one named Na'shik answered him. "When our people do rise up against Ra, we will need to kill the snakes first. Just like Nagada, we were taught that the first world was full of snakes. The snakes on the first world, they did not worship Ra, they wanted to be him. We were told to wait, until the lion devours the snakes and comes through the Chappa'ai". The man then looked at Hassif and continued "When he spoke the words to you, he should have killed you when you not understand him".
Donald turned to Rachael, then asked in English "And why was I not told about any of this?".
"Because we did not know. A lot was lost before my family came into possession of the pedestal and decided that it needed to be kept with one family. The language of the rebellion and the language spoken by the people of ancient Egypt at that time, were the only things still completely intact. It was added to over the years but what my family has in the archives, has very little pertaining to the original rebels".
She started speaking in Abydonian, so that Hassif and the others could understand. "The snakes buried the Chappa'ai but the lion tricked them. The snakes grew too powerful for the lion to devour. The lion waited growing in strength, pretending to be one of them. The lion has his paw on the snake now and became strong enough to find the Chappa'ai. It is our hope that what the Scarab wished you to give to the lion, will one day help us free your people. We will need time and nothing can change here or many of your people, will die for nothing".
Robert asked his daughter to translate for him "Your people are not soldiers, many of them fear Ra. I will teach your men to fight and how to teach others but only those you completely trust. Ra must not know". Rachael translated for them and they all nodded.
He then said "There are caves that are very big, I can teach them there. You bring them tomorrow and I will prepare to teach them". After they had stressed a few more times to them, that secrecy was still their greatest ally. Hassif and the other four men left.
They all sat down to eat as Rachael tried to decipher the jumbled up sentences. They had found what they needed, now she needed to know exactly what they had found. She started by placing the pieces of paper, in the order the animals were in, leading away from the cave they were in but it was still gibberish. Then she placed them in the order leading in to this cave. It was then that it began to make sense. If the Lion has come, the snakes have been defeated. If you are truly the Lion and not the snake. A question you must answer. In the time before Ra, what were our gods.
It was the closest translation from that language into English, she could come up with. After she had told them all, the five thousand year old message. They all sat there thinking about the riddle. It was Jim that spoke first. "Isn't Ra the sun and Apophis he was the moon and I read in the archives, that Apophis would chase Ra until he caught him and then would do battle with him but Ra would always be victorious, after a short period of darkness. Isn't that just a solar eclipse?".
Rachael looked at him surprised "You know what a solar eclipse is?". She asked.
"That was also in the archives. What I am trying to say is, the gods were the way our ancestors explained the world around them. If they were not gods in the same sense that they claim to be, what were they? I am just thinking that maybe they weren't gods at all. Maybe they were knowledge".
Rachael then said "Memory even. Humans were still hunter gatherers, at least they were in the Nile delta and probably most of the planet. They would have had a way of remembering, that relied on stories. Stories that were told in exactly the same way, by each person it was entrusted with and the gods were on earth for thousands of years before the rebellion. It fits with how the secret as been passed down here and with how the rebellion was started".
Donald was listening to what they were saying but was not understanding what they were trying to get at. So he asked "What does that have to do with the opening". He pointed to where the doorway was and shrugged his shoulders.
Jim replied, "Those men gave us a message and then opened that doorway. I think we should have a good think about what that message says and the fact that it is asking a question, means we should have an answer for it, before we go in there".
Tom spoke up then "If the gods were knowledge and not really gods. Then wouldn't the answer be, that they had no gods?"
Rachael was impressed with her son but his answer was wrong. It was not an exact translation but the phrasing of the question was precise. It wasn't asking if the gods existed, instead it was specifically asking, what they were before Ra and his kind came to the earth. "That is very good son, I'm sorry but..." It hit her as she was about to tell him he was wrong. She had read it many times in the archives. 'The only God is truth'. It was even on the cover stone, that covered the Stargate.
She got up and headed for the doorway. Her father asked her "What are you doing?".
"It was right in front of our eyes the whole time. On almost all of the artefacts that were from the original collection and on the cover stone as well. The only God is truth, I am the only one who can speak the language and as our leader said earlier. I am the boss when it comes to this, so I will go alone and save any of you risking your lives". She looked to Donald as she said the last part.
He replied "You can go but Jim goes with you and that is an order".
Jim got up then, walked over to her and said "Ladies first?".
It looked like she was going to say something sarcastic but instead she did as he asked. Donald had ordered her to sort out any tension between the two and for the most part they seemed to be working together fine but he just could not get the thought out of his head. That if this mission were to fail, it would be because of those two.
He had already discussed with Robert, the training of the Abydonian people and he had already taken on his first student. Nebu would arrive to work each day, with a new pain he would nurse, when he thought no one was looking. Robert was saying that he was even having to fight dirty, to beat him now and Nebu was in awe of the man. Donald knew that the old man would set him on the newcomers and stop actually sparring with Nebu soon. He was getting better all the time and he would not be able to handle the mans youth and strength for much longer. Once the others could face Nebu without fear, they would be ready.
Nebu had told Donald, that the hawk guards and the one who's name was an insult, to the one who was defeated by Ra, Anubis. Many of them were as big as Nebu was himself, some of them bigger still. So if they could face Nebu, the fear of those men or Jaffa as some would call them, would be lessened. All they could do now was wait, for the two members of his team, to give the all clear. Wright or wrong, Donald McCain had bought rebellion to this world. A rebellion that would cost many lives, lives that he would have on his conscience. He told himself that to leave them as slaves would be worse, he only hoped he would remember that, when the dead started haunting his dreams.
